Pagina 1-28.qxd - Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas "Alberto Benveniste"

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Pag 33-62:Pagina 1-28.qxd 10-12-2009 01:13 Page 48 FRançOIS SOyeR Damião de góis and amador arrais both made a glaring confusion between the Jews and the Castilian conversos. the Portuguese authors might have been reflecting the tendency, widespread amongst the Portuguese population in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to negatively characterise all the descendants of converts from Ju - daism, or “new Christians”, as “Jews”. the impact of this muddle on our perception of the events of 1496-7 has extended to modern scholarship ever since. 29 the intervention of Princess Isabel over the expulsion of the conversos led to renewed negotiations in 1497 relating to the terms of the marriage contract. these discussions apparently continued throughout the month of July and into early august. now, however, pressure began to mount on the Spanish court for a speedy conclusion of the marriage. On 29 July, the Spanish ambassador alfonso da Silva urgently wrote to his masters, warning them that certain councillors of the Portuguese King, distrustful of Castilian aims, were sowing seeds of doubt in his mind and advising him against the marriage. 30 a new agreement was finally drawn up on 11 august 1497 with João Manuel, the High Chamberlain of Portugal, signing the document in his capacity as King Manuel’s plenipotentiary. Manuel pledged to expel all the Castilian conversos residing within Portugal by the end of September 1497. In a separate document, included within the new marriage contract, the Infanta herself left no doubt concerning who the “heretics” were. She swore to stand by the terms of the new agreement so long as Manuel effec- 29 DaMIãO De góIS, Crónica do Felicíssimo Rei D. Manuel (Coimbra, 1949), chapter 25, 50 (quoted above); FReI aMaDOR aRRaIS, Diálogos, ed. M. lopes de almeida (Porto, 1974), 112-3. 30 “Los que stan en gana de turbar este negoçio o de derramalle dizen al rey para ponelle miedo que como debe tirar seguro si vuestras altezas no se quieren contentar de querer las vistas otro dia despues de haverse el velado, y a el asientasele aquello porque con sus reçelos parecele que se cumple con todas partes en fazerse assi.” l. SUáRez FeRnánDez, Política Internacional de Isabel la católica. Estudio y Documentos (Valladolid, 1972), Vol. 5, 198-9, doc. 34. 48
Pag 33-62:Pagina 1-28.qxd 10-12-2009 01:13 Page 49 KIng ManUel I anD tHe exPUlSIOn OF tHe CaStIlIan ConvERSoS anD MUSlIMS... tively expelled “all those condemned [for heresy] over here [in Castile], who are presently in his realms and lordships.” 31 Manuel I and the expulsion of the Muslim minority Having examined the fate of the Castilian conversos, I would now like to turn to that other forgotten minority in medieval Portugal: the Muslims. 32 the expulsion of the Muslim minority from Portugal has always been overshadowed by the brutal forced conversion of the Jews. Contemporary Portuguese chroniclers barely refer to it and Jewish sources never mention the fact that the expulsion edict also affected Muslims. Modern studies rarely, if ever, mention it. this striking silence is to a large extent probably due to the total absence of any Muslim sources that might shed light on this event and offer us a Muslim perspective. the lack of information relating to the expulsion of the Portuguese Muslims is all the more remarkable as the event itself is so surprising. Manuel’s decision to expel his Muslim subjects is difficult to understand and was a totally unprecedented act. throughout the Iberian Peninsula, the presence of Muslim communities continued to be tolerated by the Christian authorities until 1502 in Castile, 1516 in navarre and 1525-6 in the territories of the Crown of aragón. One of the first and most important questions concerning the expulsion of the Muslims might seem an incongruous one but is certainly crucial: did it actually take place? In 1904, antónio de 31 “…todos los que fueron condenados aqua por hereges que stan en los dichos sus reynos e señorios…”. a.n.t.t., Gaveta 17, maço 1, doc. 9; Gavetas da Torre do Tombo, ed. a. Da SIlVa RegO, Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos (lisbon, 1967), Vol. 6, 486-8, doc. 4080; a. De la tORRe and l. SUáRez FeRnánDez, Documentos referentes a las relaciones con Portugal durante el reino de los Reyes Catholicos (Valladolid, 1963), Vol. 3, 15-8, doc. 471 [the authors wrongly give date in the document’s title as 11 July 1497]. 32 On the Muslim minority in medieval Portugal see the seminal and masterful study by MaRIa FIlOMena lOPeS De BaRROS, Tempos e espaços de mouros: a minoria muçulmana no reino português, séculos XII a Xv (lisbon, 2007). 49
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Pagina 1-28.qxd - Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas "Alberto Benveniste"

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